It’s a pretty strange feeling to have an event you’ve planned for months and months finally be over, isn’t it?!
Within just two weeks, both Family Weekend and our WildFire Retreat took place and I’m feeling a big mix of things… all of which seem to be undergirded with tired.
Planning and preparing and organizing things can sometimes take so much out of us that we forget to save some energy for the event itself! We begin to zoom in on the details of each meal and create meal plans and grocery lists and, before we know it, we’re standing in a sweet little kitchen at a retreat centre out in Milton teaching the youth how to fry Finnish pancakes (which might *look* like crepes, but regardless of what anyone says, they’re totally different).
The Parable of the Ten Virgins has been coming to my mind a lot lately…
Obviously, there is a whole lot of cultural significance that gets lost on me. As much as I love candles and setting the ambiance of a room, oil lamps are never my go-to. Neither have I ever needed to wait for such a significant event to take place!
Have a read for yourself of this parable Jesus told in Matthew 25:1-13.
The Parable of the Ten Virgins
“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
“At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
“Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
“‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’
“But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
“Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’
“But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
I remember hearing this parable as a young girl and I’m pretty sure I’ve carried it in my heart all these years with the same sense of wonder, confusion and sadness. Even though I’ve always been so amazed by the five wise virgins who brought extra oil, I’ve also always felt so bad for the five who didn’t bring enough! Especially since we were raised to believe that “sharing is caring” … why weren’t the wise virgins also sharing virgins??
Weirdly, Jesus doesn’t seem to address their lack of sharing though. He doesn’t even seem to show an ounce of compassion for them either! (Another extremely confusing thing for Little Laura to wrestle with.)
After back-to-back retreat weekends, the part that seems to resonate most with me is that all ten of the virgins became drowsy and fell asleep. And even that portion doesn’t seem to be a negative to Jesus. Instead, the focus of this parable seems to be on the importance of being prepared and ready!
It’s more about whether or not we’re prepared for life and the coming of the Kingdom.
All of us are probably in the process of making preparations for one thing or another… maybe it’s just for today’s dinner or maybe it’s for a really big event or work function. Wherever we may be putting our time and energy, my hope is that we will remember to zoom out and consider the ways the Kingdom of God is at work around us.
We don’t want to be so busy rushing around trying to collect oil for our lamps that we miss the arrival of our Bridegroom King.
We don’t want to be so caught up in the planning that we forget to prepare our hearts for the miraculous and surprising work of God that is about to unfold.
Lord Jesus,
This parable you shared is pretty confusing for us living in 2024 with electricity and different bridal traditions… but we are still often focused on things that take our attention away from you. We are often distracted from the Kingdom of God and prone to missing what you’re doing.
I pray that we may have a keen sense of awareness to what you’re doing around us and within us, Lord.
May we be people who joyfully anticipate great things from you while also ensuring that we prepare our hearts and lives accordingly!
Amen.